Te Awamutu man becomes number two ranked boxer in Australia

Floyd Masson, formerly of Te Awamutu, is ranked second in Australia for cruiserweight boxing. Photo / Jasmin Frank

After 12 years of boxing Floyd Masson, formerly of Te Awamutu, is now ranked No 2 in Australia.

Masson is a cruiserweight fighter. Cruiserweight or junior heavyweight is one weight division below heavyweight. The weight limit is 90.7 kilograms.

His record is 8-0 with five knockouts.

"I started boxing to get one back at my older brother, Cohen! But on a more serious note, I guess I felt a bit lost and had tried a lot of sports. I was always changing," said Masson.

"Close friend Jamie Hansen said I should give boxing a crack and I fell in love with the sport."

Masson lives in Perth where he moved to after his best mate Tyson Whalley.

Whalley had moved over to train with Australian coach Sean Nash.

"When they came back for nationals I saw a huge improvement. Tyson was on another level to everyone. I had a chat with Sean and he saw some potential in me.

"I pretty much followed them back over to Perth and moved in with the coach to be 100 per cent committed."

His hardest opponent so far in the professional ranks was Christian Tsoye, from Cameroon.

"He had more than 300 amateur fights and was a beast! He just kept coming at me the whole eight rounds. I threw everything I had at him and he didn't slow down. He caught me good in the last round but I dug deep to win the state title fight."

The win against Tsoye is also Masson's highlight of his career so far.

"I've also got to mention that I had a war. One of "the fights of the year" against another Kiwi named Navosa 'Smiley' Ioata and I have a lot of respect for him."

Masson's biggest inspiration is the late Arturo Gatti who was his favourite fighter. Gatti would never give up in the ring and was always in exciting fights.

Masson is happy his hard work is paying off but won't be satisfied until he achieves his goals.
He has his boxing journey planned and hopes to win the Australian title this year.

Masson is ranked No 44 in the world so his aim it to get in the top 10 before eventually achieving his life goal of becoming world champion.